1. Management Information Systems By Effy Oz & Andy Jones
Chapter 11: System Planning and Development

2. Objectives Explain the importance of and steps in IT planning
Describe the systems development life cycle, which is the traditional approach to systems development
Explain the challenges involved in systems development
List the advantages and disadvantages of different system conversion strategies

3. Objectives (continued)
Enumerate and explain the principles of agile systems development methods
Explain the concept of systems integration
Discuss whether IS professionals should be certified

4. Planning Information Systems
Enterprise ISs gaining in popularity
High risk involved in implementation
Successful integration of system vital
Planning of IS necessary
Align IS and organizational strategies

5. Steps in Planning Information Systems
IS planning includes several key steps
Create IS mission statement
Articulate vision for IS
Create IS plans
Create operations plan
Create budget

6. Steps in Planning Information Systems (continued)

7. Steps in Planning Information Systems (continued)
Mission statement: most important overarching goal of organization
IS mission statement describes goal of IS
Should be compatible with organizational mission statement
CIO develops strategic plan for implementation
Goals broken down into objectives
Objectives broken down to operational details

8. Steps in Planning Information Systems (continued)
IT planning similar to planning of other resources
Growing proportion of IT funds spent on software
More purchasing
Less developing in-house

9. The Benefits of Standardization in Planning
Major goal of planning is standardization
Many benefits
Cost savings
Better bargaining power
Applies to hardware and software
Efficient training
Smaller variety of software
Efficient support
More specialization

10. From Planning to Development
After planning decide how to obtain systems
Usually software
Approaches to systems development universal
Two approaches
Systems development life cycle (SDLC)
Nontraditional methods
Agile methods more efficient
Prototyping: fast development of application based on initial requirements

11. The Systems Development Life Cycle
Large ISs conceived with systems development life cycle (SDLC)
SDLC also known as waterfall development
Consists of sequential phases
Organizations sometimes take shortcuts
Four major phases
Analysis
Design
Implementation
Support

12. The Systems Development Life Cycle (continued)

13. Analysis Systems analysis: five-step process Investigation
Technical feasibility study
Economic feasibility study
Operational feasibility study
Requirements definition

14. Analysis (continued)

15. Analysis (continued) First step is investigation
Determine if system necessary
Small team interviews employees
Feasibility studies: conducted after IS warranted
Technical feasibility
Determine if components exist
Adequate hardware

16. Analysis (continued) Economic feasibility study
Cost/benefit analysis: spreadsheet showing costs
Benefits must outweigh costs
Return on investment (ROI): most accurate economic analysis
Difference between stream of benefits and costs
Many benefits are intangible

17. Analysis (continued)

18. Analysis (continued) Operational feasibility study
Determine how new system will be used
Organizational culture: general tone of corporate environment
System compatibility with culture
Requirements definition
Project team installed
System requirements: functions expected from system

19. Design Second step in systems development is design
Systems design: three steps
Description
Construction
Testing
If purchasing system must determine how to adapt
Construction requires changing programming code

20. Design (continued)

21. Design (continued) Symbols used to communicate ideas
Visual information grasped more quickly
Data flow diagram (DFD): describes flow of data
Four symbols
External entities
Processes
Data stores
Direction of data flow

22. Design (continued)

23. Design (continued) DFD symbols Simplicity of DFD is advantage
External entities are external individuals and groups
Processes are events that change data
Data store is resting data
Data flow is direction that data moves
Simplicity of DFD is advantage
DFD suitable for describing non-computer based IS
DFD cannot describe system completely

24. Design (continued)

25. Design (continued)
Unified modeling language (UML): de facto standard for diagramming
Helps developers communicate features
Provides standard symbols and notations
Consists of diagrams describing software
Use case
Class
Interaction
State
Activity
Physical components

26. Design (continued)

27. Design (continued) Construction System testing Mostly programming
Takes months to years
Testing done on completed modules
Walk-through logic of program
Simulation of actual program execution
System testing
Test entire integrated system
Try to “outsmart” system
Poor testing causes many failures

28. Implementation Implementation: Two steps
Conversion
Training
Conversion: switching old system to new
Four basic strategies
Parallel conversion: old system used with new system at first
Phased conversion: break IS into modules and integrate one at a time
Cut-over conversion: immediately replace all
Pilot conversion: introduce in one business unit at a time

29. Implementation (continued)

30. Support Support: two responsibilities Maintenance User help
Post-implementation debugging
Updates
Adding postponed features
User help
Longest phase of system life cycle

31. Agile Methods Agile methods: alternatives to SDLC
Treat software development as series of contacts with users
Fast development of software
Improve software after user specifications received
Iterative programming

32. Agile Methods (continued)
Popular agile methods
Extreme programming (XP)
Adaptive software development (ASD)
Lean development (LD)
Rational unified process (RUP)
Feature driven development (FDD)
Dynamic systems development method (DSDM)
Scrum
Crystal

33. Agile Methods (continued)
Agile method risks
Analysis phase limited or eliminated
Risk of incompatibilities
Less documentation
Difficult modification
Manifesto for Agile Software Development prioritizes individuals and interactions over processes
Light but sufficient development process

34. Agile Methods (continued)

35. Agile Methods (continued)
User involvement encouraged throughout process
Test modules immediately after completion
Communication with users informal
Two programmers per module

36. When to Use Agile Methods
Best to use agile method
When system is small
Analysis less important
Small investment of resources
For unstructured problems
Users cannot specify all requirements at start
Unfamiliar with technology
Difficult to conceptualize

37. When Not to Use Agile Methods
Do not use agile methods when
System is large
System failure entails great financial loss
Designed to interface with other systems
SDLC recommended for complex systems
Documentation is key

38. When Not to Use Agile Methods (continued)

39. Systems Integration Systems integration: combine disparate systems
Examines needs of entire organization
Allows data to flow between units
Some service companies specialize in this
Integration more challenging than development
Interface legacy systems with new systems

40. Systems Integration (continued)

41. Systems Integration (continued)
Systems integrators must be skilled in hardware and software
Difficult to overcome incompatibility issues
Systems integration may span several organizations
Integration with telecommunications

42. Summary IT planning important because of high investment rate
Standardization important part of IT planning
Systems development life cycle (SDLC) has well-defined phases
Purpose of systems analysis is to determine needs the system will satisfy

43. Summary (continued)
Feasibility studies determine if system is possible and desirable
System requirements detail features needed
Developers outline system components graphically
Unified Modeling language used to create model of desired system
Implementation includes training and conversion to new system

44. Summary (continued)
Support entails maintenance and satisfying changing needs
Agile methods are popular alternative to traditional systems development cycle
Systems integration more complicated than systems development
Great responsibility of IS professionals results in certification requirements